THE SUICIDE INTERVENTION RESPONSE INVENTORY: A REVISION AND VALIDATION

Abstract

The Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI) was developed by Neimeyer and MacInnes (1981) to assess the ability of paraprofessional counselors to recognize appropriate responses to suicidal clients. Although several studies have supported the validity of the scale, concerns have been raised about its ceiling effect when administered to more highly trained counselors. Psychometric improvements were therefore attempted, and the original dichotomous scoring system was replaced with a Likert scale format, in the SIRI-2. Because respondents were required to make more subtle judgments concerning the appropriateness of each response as defined by a criterion group of highly expert suicidologists, the ceiling effect that limited the use of the original measure was eliminated. Construct and discriminant validity were demonstrated in both versions of the instrument. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability showed improvement with the SIRI-2. Overall, the SIRI-2 shows promise as an index of suicide counseling effectiveness, especially among more skilled counselors.

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